Mumbai’s Latest Makeover: More Bollywood

Ranjit Dahiya worked on a mural of Amitabh Bachchan in Mumbai, June 20.

If you’ve been pleasantly surprised by the bright murals of Bollywood stars that now adorn the mostly dirty walls in Mumbai, you should thank Ranjit Dahiya.

These murals are a part of the Bollywood Art Project, started by Mr. Dahiya and his friend Tony Peters in June this year with the aim of celebrating the centenary of the Hindi film industry, which falls next year. (India’s first-ever feature-length film, Raja Harishchandra, a silent movie, was made in 1913.)

A short, burly man with long black hair tied neatly behind his head, Mr. Dahiya, 33, says he loves Bollywood. But when he came to Mumbai in 2008, he was surprised to see there was “no major Bollywood presence in Mumbai” – at least not in a visual sense. He found this odd since Mumbai is known world-wide for its film industry.

He took it upon himself to fix this.

Since June, Mr. Dahiya has painted three murals: one replicating a poster of “Anarkali,” a classic of Indian cinema; another of actor Amitabh Bachchan; and a third one of the late Bollywood superstar Rajesh Khanna.

The murals, so far the biggest one of which is 24 feet tall and 42 feet wide, can be spotted in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra, a neighborhood home to many Bollywood celebrities.

Posters promoting Bollywood movies were traditionally hand painted. In recent years, this practice has almost disappeared, as film producers have turned to technology to mass produce posters.

With his murals, Mr. Dahiya hopes to revive this art.

Mr. Dahiya decided to combine his love of wall painting with his love for Bollywood. He got the idea from The Wall Project, started in Mumbai to liven up the city’s often dreary walls with graffiti painting, much of it amateur.

Shreya Shah/The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Dahiya stood in front of the first mural of the Bollywood Art Project in Mumbai, Aug. 22

Mr. Dahiya learned this art form in his home village of Sonipat, in Haryana state. He discovered his artistic vein when, after being suspended from school for bad behavior, he helped a relative whitewash houses.

He realized he wanted to take it to the next level when he painted a mural of the Hindu goddess Saraswati in a school. He also started decorating trucks, storefronts and restaurants.

Mr. Dahiya started working on hand-painted Bollywood posters in the late 1990s, when he worked at New Delhi’s Golcha Cinema. He still remembers helping paint posters of the movie “Yeh Dil Lagi” for the theatre.

He then signed up for a fine arts course at the Chandigarh College of Art and later enrolled at Ahmedabad’s design school.

He says it is an advantage to know everything about painting walls-from cleaning them to adding the finishing touches. “Murals are a combination of the wall and the art form,” he says, “the chemistry between the two is important.” He still uses the same kind of shoe brushes and enamel paint he used when he painted houses and trucks.

Other than his love for Bollywood, Mr. Dahiya says that the feedback he has received from residents inspires him. Recently, a family gave him a bouquet of flowers as a token of their appreciation. “The guy selling pani puris (a savory Indian snack) near my Anarkali painting never takes any money from me,” he says.

Navneet Pitdhai, a 40-year old tailor in Bandra, describes Mr. Dahiya as “selfless” and his work as “brilliant.”

But not everyone appreciates his efforts. While he was painting Amitabh Bachchan’s mural, a man came to him and slammed it as “rubbish.” There have been three instances of people spitting paan on the painting, too, he says. “I went and wiped the stains off the painting,” he says.

“No one has given any money for this project,” he says. He earns money through his work as a graphic designer.

Mr. Peters, also runs a production company that helps fund the project. Mr. Peters is not an artist but manages other aspects, like the finances, of the project.

Each mural costs 27,000-37,000 rupees ($500-$700) to paint and takes about 10 days to make.

Since the walls are private property, he needs the permission of the owners before he can go ahead with the murals.

Shreya Shah/The Wall Street Journal

A mural of Rajesh Khanna painted by Mr. Dahiya in Mumbai, Aug. 22

Getting permission to paint on a wall from the residents of the building is usually not very hard, though there are exceptions. One woman, for instance, told him he would have to pay 50,000 rupees to paint on their wall, an amount he couldn’t afford.

They have been trying to convince people to fund the project but have not been successful so far. He doesn’t want a company name or logo on his mural and that makes it hard for money to come by.

Mr. Dahiya says that despite the difficulties, he loves the spirit of Mumbai and has no intention of leaving the city. “I have started looking at every wall as a potential wall for my murals.”

The first project he wants to undertake after the monsoons is painting Helen, the first item girl of Bollywood. And he plans to paint Mumbai’s streets with the images of as many as 50 Bollywood musicians, directors and villains over the next year.

The Anarkali mural can be seen in Chapel Road in Bandra. The murals of Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan are near Bandstand.